Audionut (mod) has asked me to write a post about the book, so those not familiar with EOSHD can understand what it is, what it isn't and what my intentions are in providing it. I have created a 106 page guide in my spare time which covers raw shooting on the 5D Mark III, the workflows, cinematography and more of my own research.
The book page at EOSHD is:
http://www.eoshd.com/eoshd-5d-mark-iii-raw-shooters-guide-pdf-book-download
I'd like to start with a thanks and a credit to the Magic Lantern team. It seems appropriate to take the one from the introduction chapter in the book itself:
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I want to thank the Magic Lantern team for making raw recording on the 5D Mark III possible. In particular, thanks go to - A1ex, Malcolm Debono, Giovanni C, coutts, g3gg0, 1% and all the Magic Lantern developers who contributed to the achievement. My gratitude goes also to Trammell Hudson and AJ who pioneered Magic Lantern on the 5D Mark II in earlier days. Magic Lantern are not a profit seeking organization or business and donations are only sought when they need funds for a development related task.
Keep an eye on this page to see what they are up to right now and whether they require any donations: http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Donate
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Q: Is the book my own research and 100% my own material?
A: Yes all my own research and writing - anything I didn't understand or try or refine myself with my own two hands didn't go in the book, simple as that.
Q: What is the aim of the book?
A: Education and to put stuff in one place. I also intended to take pressure away from the developers and ML Forum from having to spend so much time answering questions from new users.
Q: Any advertising in the book?
A: Zero. I doesn't run advertising on EOSHD either.
Q: What motivated you to write the book?
A: Getting to grips with raw for my own creative filmmaking. It excites me BIG TIME. The filmmaking I do drives everything on the blog. I want the best image quality I can get on a DSLR. Also I personally like to explore new technology, new aesthetics and creative features, like raw crop mode, bolt trigger - really creative and nice. I'm not participating in these forums with the intention to take knowledge, package it and sell it - I'm here to contribute. I put back in all of what I do through my blogging and forum posts.
Q: What is the book about exactly?
A: The book covers raw like a technical consultant would on a film set or in a camera technical team, and it is written like one to one advice to other filmmakers. There's a section where I list the advantages of the raw format in general for example - and what kind of filmmaking it suits and what it doesn't. A lot of effort went into structuring and writing the book in a professional way to make it straight forward for anyone, whether technical or not, to take my advice and to apply it to their shooting - or even to glean some creative inspiration from it.
Q: What do I get from it?
A: You will get a chunk of my brain.
It's not just from the last eventful few weeks but from nearly a year of raw with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Resolve. It's all in there!
Q: ML is free. The guide is not in that spirit?
A: I love the spirit of altruistic giving and open source, open standards and I also support the EFF. Through EOSHD I want to contribute my test shoots, creative shoots, blog posts, forum posts all for free.
It is only fair I take some of this work on my own shoulders of explaining Magic Lantern to the broader film community (as well as getting more people using it on the filmmaking projects) as it's my day job. Precisely for that reason (it being a full time job) I have to charge a small amount for the book ($19.99) as I did my Anamorphic Guide and the GH2 Shooter's Guide. The day job funds the creation of the material itself and without it I would probably have to get a job in McDonalds
I'm interested in leading an interesting creative career, not having the nicest tombstone in the graveyard but reality means a creative pursuit requires funding, as well as investment back in... More so I think original content like the book and original work like ML *deserves* rewarding. In some cases the reward can't be monetary unfortunately (due to legal risks). I'm trying to get Canon to back the project so ML can start taking donations more regularly without fear of legal issues coming up. Wouldn't we all like to give up or day jobs and do what we love for money? It's important
Q: Precisely what does the book cover?
A: It is 12 chapters and 106 pages. Here's a list of selected highlights -
- Comprehensive workflow guides including - Cinema DNG, CineForm raw, native raw, ProRes, LOG conversion and grading, LUTs, Resolve, Premiere, After Effects
EOSHD's recommended settings for raw video
My own Magic Lantern installation guide
A guide to the raw recording features, including performance enhancements
A guide to editing 5D Mark III raw video directly in Adobe Premiere without transcoding
Anamorphic shooting advice and aspect ratio cheat-sheet
Using Kodak, Fuji and Alexa film looks for Resolve (by Hunter and Juan)
How to use 1:1 crop mode and continuous 3.5K raw 10fps timelapse recording in video mode (without mechanical shutter)
Overcrank 48p / 50p / 60p for raw slow-mo
Going beyond 1080p resolution at 24fps, what the stable settings are
A guide to recommended software
Understanding data rates and a buyer's guide to Compact Flash cards
Technical glossary, trouble-shooting, test shoots, shootouts and FAQ
Also creative advice, such as....
- Raw shooting advice
Cinematography / shooting tips from myself
Advice on applying raw to your specific kind of filmmaking
Cheers everyone. It's a great community, long may it continue. If any the devs need a copy, please email me and you can have a complimentary one. Furthermore, I am happy to help advice with the official documentation and manual if you think my input would be useful for such a project.
